Green card, red tape: Visa program under fire for labor drain

http://dallasnews.com/business/134348_immigration_06.html


08/06/2000

By Vikas Bajaj / The Dallas Morning News

Glyn Heatley's American dream was almost within reach. He had just
bought a new car, had been dating a Dallas schoolteacher and was
working as a high-tech consultant at Akili.

Matt Otero / Special to the DMN

A high-tech consultant at Akili, Glyn Heatley was forced to return to
his native England when his visa ran out. Now working in London, Mr.
Heatley says he hopes to return to the United States.

But the dream turned out to be hollow: He wasn't an American and can't
become one for years.

Mr. Heatley, who returned to his native England this spring when his
visa ran out, is one of thousands of foreign workers in line to become
Americans who have run up against bureaucratic roadblocks.

"For as much as the States talk about equal opportunity and the
American Dream, the reality is quite different," he said in a
telephone interview from London.

The visa program that allowed Mr. Heatley to work in the United States
is under attack because it forces thousands of qualified workers to
leave the country each year. A diverse collection of foreign workers'
groups, corporations and American labor groups is calling for an
overhaul of the system.

The history of U.S. immigration is littered with personal stories like
Mr. Heatley's – people whose lives were caught in the political
and economic tides that shaped the policies of who's allowed in and
who isn't. The current controversy adds a unique dimension. Never
before has one industry – in this case the high-tech field that's
driving the nation's prosperity – molded the debate because of
its need for skilled workers.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service now offers 115,000 work
visas known as the H-1Bs, which are good for six years. The visa has
become particularly popular with high-tech companies. But when the six
years are up, the visa holders – many of whom first came to the
United States to study – have to return home unless their
employers have secured them a permanent resident visa, popularly known
as the green card.

But getting a green card has become increasingly difficult. The INS
has a backlog of more than 1 million applications, up from 120,353 in
1992. In some parts of the country, the green card process can take
longer than the six years allowed under the H-1B visa. And most
employers wait about two years to start the application process
because they want to be sure the employee is worth the effort.

Mr. Heatley and Akili applied for his green card two years ago. But
his H-1B visa expired in March while the application was pending, and
he was forced to leave. He's still an Akili employee, however. The
company set up Mr. Heatley in a new London office, which operates
under the name Root 7. He now supervises 10 employees there.

Shiek Shah, Akili's co-chief executive, said many foreign workers have
been in the United States more than 10 years, including time in
college, when their H-1Bs finally run out. When they leave, America
loses valuable skills, he said.

"If you find good people, you don't want to lose them," said Mr. Shah,
a Kenyan immigrant.

He warned that the United States will lose out if enough companies
follow the example Akili set with Mr. Heatley. "We figure out a way to
start shipping work over there; and when that happens, you lose
revenues in this country," Mr. Shah said.

Congress is considering several bills that would increase the number
of H-1B visas granted each year. But immigration experts say that will
only increase the INS green card backlog.

Dr. Lindsay Lowell, director of research at Georgetown University's
Institute for the Study of International Migration, estimates that
about two-thirds of H-1B holders intend to become permanent residents.

Layers of transition

"We are creating a system with layers and layers of transition," Dr.
Lowell said. "We could [soon] have a population of half a million to a
million people taking years to transition to citizenship."

Historically, immigrants have been admitted to the United States on a
"citizenship track" that was designed to handle the transition from
visa to green card. In its original form, however, the H-1B visa
required applicants to disavow citizenship. Dropping that requirement
in the early 1990s led to a flood of green card applications.

"We have this netherworld of people who don't have full rights," Dr.
Lowell said.

He said Congress has refused to reform the system because immigration
policy is fraught with emotion and involves too many vested interests.

Proposed relief

Two of three H-1B bills pending in Congress provide some relief for
workers awaiting green cards. The bills allow H-1B visas to be
extended until the green card applications are processed.Rep. Lamar
Smith, R-San Antonio, has introduced his own bill to reform the
system, but it stresses training for U.S. workers over relaxing
immigration rules.

"H-1B visas for foreign workers are temporary," he said in a written
statement in response to questions. "They were created to fill
short-term labor shortages, and then the foreign workers would go
home."

Other lawmakers say the green card mess isn't so much a problem of
immigration policy as it is a bureaucratic failure.

"We have done nothing but increase the funding for INS over the period
of several years," said Larry Neal, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Phil
Gramm, R-Texas. "If they have chosen not to make this a priority, that
explains a lot."

INS officials strongly disagreed with Mr. Neal's assessment.

"Since about 1995, INS has seen an almost tripling of applications of
all types," agency spokeswoman Eyleen Schmidt said. "We have not seen
a corresponding increase in our resources."

Saravanamagesh "Gan" Ganesan, a programmer at a Dallas company, filed
his green card application three years ago and just received notice
that the Texas Workforce Commission has opened his file. That's the
first stop for green card paperwork. But the application will probably
take longer than the 15 months Mr. Ganesan has left on his visa. After
the Texas Workforce Commission, the application has to go through the
U.S. Labor Department and then the INS.

"The irony is I want to work, and there are so many jobs that are not
being filled and you have so few Americans graduating from technical
colleges," said Mr. Ganesan, 30, who asked that his company not be
named.

He arrived here more than six years ago from India, spending two years
earning a master's degree in business administration from the
University of Oklahoma and four on the job in Dallas.

"I have been here since age 23; I am pretty much changed," he said.
"It's not easy going back."

His company says it will offer to relocate him to its Canadian office
because it doesn't want to lose his skills, but he would prefer to
stay here.

The Texas Workforce Commission, which helps the U.S. Labor Department
evaluate green card applications, sympathizes with workers such as Mr.
Ganesan but says it is working as fast as it can, given its resources.

"We will do as much as we can," commission spokesman Larry Jones said.
"We do feel that the federal government needs to apply resources to
the program if they want to clear it [the backlog] up."

Support for reform

The labor movement has opposed increased immigration in recent years,
but some groups support reform. The Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers-USA advocates eliminating the H-1B system in
favor of giving immigrant workers green cards instead of temporary
visas. Fewer workers would be let in, but they wouldn't have to worry
about leaving the country after six years.

"There is certainly a place for people to immigrate here," said
Merrill Buckley, the group's president. "But the H-1B is working
against people who are coming in here."

But some industry officials say foreign workers have little to
complain about. They were never promised a green card, and it was
explicit that their visas were temporary.

Jack Martin, special projects director for the Federation for American
Immigration Reform, says those who want to become residents or
citizens should file their applications early. "The problem is a
processing delay, and one that is not an impediment if the process is
started early enough," he said. Mr. Martin's group advocates reforms
that would cut down the number of foreigners coming into the country.
It has also been running ads that claim foreigners are taking jobs
away from qualified American workers.

Some high-tech officials say they want a more efficient processing
system but don't think foreign workers should expect a red carpet.

"They don't have to use the H-1B program," said Harris Miller,
president of the Information Technology Association of America, which
represents tech companies. "They can stay in their own country or they
can go to another country. They are trying to turn this into an
entitlement program."

But Mr. Heatley of Akili says the system misled him into believing
that he could build a successful life in America, only to tie him up
in bureaucratic knots when he tried.